


Klutz

by Amari



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Klutzes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-06
Updated: 2014-04-06
Packaged: 2018-01-18 10:07:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1424569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amari/pseuds/Amari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joel and Ray have always been klutzy their entire lives. Half the time they couldn’t go through doors without smashing their shoulders into them. The two meet when one falls down the stairs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Klutz

Sometimes in shows, the character that trips and falls a lot is often perceived as cute. The person that gets hurt in stupid ways gets laughed at. In real life this happens too. It’s funny to see people trip. It’s funny to see people walk into doors. It’s gut busting when people land on their asses.  Forks in hands? That’s silly. Pole to the face? Hilarious.

So it should be funny and nothing but laughs when you add all that up in a person, and multiply it by two.

Right?

….Right?

Ha.

Ha.

Ha.

These were the lives of Joel Heyman and Ray Narvez Jr, two klutzes that have made enemies with staircases and doorframes.  The fact that they lived to make it to college was a goddamn miracle. The only things that held their hands were bandaids and stitches. Slings held their arms to their chests, and casts weighed down their ankles. With every slip and fall, they watched as their friends laughed.  They took every ‘stop hurting yourself’ silently, no real response could be given.

They didn’t try to get hurt. Joel didn’t mean to skin off half his thumb with the potato peeler that one time. Ray didn’t realize that you could legitimately stab your hand with one of those sword-shaped toothpicks. Joel thought that dog was playfully growling at him when he was seven! Ray didn’t know that sometimes pickle jars just broke apart when you pick them up by the lid!

Their lives were just one accident after another. One new scar a day.

Despite this, they made it to college, hoping that maybe they’d stop getting hurt. They literally couldn’t afford to get hurt anymore, so hopefully fate would be nice for once. No one would laugh at them if they did drop their cafeteria plate, and maybe someone would actually ask if they were okay.

You could say that the moment Joel and Ray fell for each other was they day they literally fell on each other.

Ray was speeding down the stairs, knowing that it wasn’t going to end well, but he had no choice. He missed the email saying his class was in a different room, and he only had a few minutes to get there before class started. The tan-covered stairs blurred under his feet. His descent from the fourth floor to the first was going smoother than anticipated. He rounded every turn and for a moment contemplated taking them two at a time. No one was in his way, and the last set was in sight. Only a few more steps now and he’d be on flatter ground.

Of course, this would be when his heel would catch the back of the previous step, stopping his foot, but his momentum kept him going forward. Flailing arms couldn’t catch the railing in time. He was going to hit the floor and fast. Somewhere in the seconds between the initial trip and the landing, Ray found the time to make inner peace with what was going to happen. He closed his eyes and sighed, hoping to god he didn’t break a wrist when goes to catch himself.

But it’s not hard tile flooring he hit. No. It’s not hard, but it’s not the softest thing in the world either. Ray’s eyes flew open he sky-tackled a dude that actually tried catching him. Face first, he went dove into some stranger’s shirt as his arm wrapped around in a hugging like fashion. He felt the center of the person’s weight shift, and the guy started falling too, just not as fast as Ray had been. The two of them landed on the floor, and Ray heard the other guy’s groan in pain as the back of his head collided with floor. Ray groaned from his arm wrenched underneath.

It took them a few moments before either of them moved. Ray would have laughed at the guy because he saw him lift his head up three times before he actually managed to shift himself so Ray could get his arm out, but the pain was pretty evident on the guy’s face. Pushing himself up, he checked his arm, shaking it a bit. It wasn’t broken.

Holy shit.

“Thanks, oh my god. My arm actually isn’t broken because of you.” Ray thanked profusely, offering the stranger a hand.

It was that moment when he reached up with a relatively large hand and grasped onto Ray’s hand that Ray got a good look at his face. Let’s just say that he was hot, and it made Ray’s stomach flip cartwheels. Ray’s eyes bulged out of his head just looking at him. A messy blush of embarrassment brushed across Ray’s face, turning him a cute shade of pink.

He scratched the back of his head.  “So uh. Yeah. Thanks for catching me.”

The guy only smiled at first, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his own head. “Yeah, it was… it’s nothing. I just… I just saw a dude falling and I was like, ‘oh shit, gotta catch him’ so I caught you? You know? Well, of course you know, because I caught you but you know what I mean right?”

Ray chuckled at the guy’s mumbling, ready to tease him when he saw the guy’s hand when passed his face. Ray completely froze. His hand was littered with bandages. His whole forearm was a mix of tiny scars and band-aids. Ray’s own hand shot out and grabbed at his wrist. He pulled it toward him, not caring at all if he was freaking out the guy, he just needed to look at the wounds.

Ray’s eyes darted between the cuts and the scrapes, noticing that they were all over the visible parts of his body. These weren’t self-inflicted. Not with the sheer randomness of the directions and various shapes of the actual scars. These were accidents. Marks of stories left in his skin.

There was someone else, maybe, that was just like Ray. Someone else that was cursed to be un-coordinated. Someone else that couldn’t catch a break for a single day, and ended up hurt in some way.

 The guy yanked his arm away suddenly, springing Ray back to the real world.

“I’m… I’m really sorry. I just—“ Ray sputtered, trying to justify himself, “I just—look, your bandaids, they looked like—“

“I don’t self-harm, okay? Fuck.” He interrupted, “Shit just happens to me, okay?”

Ray shook his head profusely, “No no no! I knew that! God. Look at me!” Ray pushed up his sleeved and all but shoved his forearm in the guy’s face. Even though the dark hair on his arms hid most of them, his own arm was littered in scars from accidents. Dog bites, surgical scars, burns, all kinds of marks lived on Ray’s arm. “I’m the same as you! At least, if I’m right I’m just like you. You like, touch something, and it bites you, regardless of whether it’s alive or not. Gravity isn’t your friend, and likes to break your bones from time to time, doesn’t it? You probably almost suffered a concussion just getting out of bed once because you slipped on your sheets! … Right?”

The man was stunned silent. He just had his entire past ripped out and shown back to him on a silver platter. There it was, on Ray’s arm, a mirror of experiences, a wealth of pain on display. “Y-yeah. That’s… actually yeah. That’s right.” He nodded excessively.

Ray rolled his sleeve back down, “My name is Ray. What’s yours?”

“Joel. I just—wow.” He stumbled around his words a bit, sounds came out of his throat, but not in the form of something Ray could understand. When words didn’t communicate, he resorted to flailing, with most of the gestures leading to outside the building. “I want to continue this conversation, cuz I might not see you again, and I’m done for the day, do you want to continue talking? ‘Cuz I might not see you again,’ what the fuck did that mean? Like whatever, do you just want to like talk more? Let’s talk more.”

Ray quickly checked his phone. He was already horrendously late for class, so he decided that he just wasn’t going to go at all. He could just email a classmate to find out what went on anyways. Besides, why deny the fate that led him to meet another like him? It was like finding a diamond in a sea of needles. (You know, because that simile made sense). It’s a jewel that he was going to grab onto, and hold for as long as he could. He told Joel that he’d be happy to blab about things, and with a pleased smile, Joel led the way.

The spring air smelled sweet as the two of them walked around campus. It had been Joel’s intent to go back to his dorm, but now that he had company, he’d take as many detours as possible.  With every corner they rounded, their conversation continued.  They talked about themselves, from birthdays to hometowns, from favorite food to favorite show. It was a first day ‘get to know each other’ game but you know… actually fun. Their words continued between fits of laughter and smiles. And between those words and laughs, Ray innocently followed Joel into his dorm. He hadn’t realized it had happened until he was actually standing in the middle of his room.

“Well. This is a thing.” Ray stated simply before plopping himself on Joel’s bed.

The lucky bastard didn’t have a roommate so he had all the space to himself. He even bunked the beds creating even more room for himself. It was like a neat little pad with a big flat screen tv (although, what tv’s AREN’T flat screen anymore, I mean, c’mon!), all the consoles, and one hell of a nice computer was perched on Joel’s desk. Ray didn’t really know all the parts and pieces of the computer, but the innards did have a pretty blue glow to them. The walls were bare though. Undecorated and unloved.  When asked about it, Joel simply shrugged and said that since he had his face in a screen or a book, he didn’t spend time looking at his walls.

“So,” Ray said after a silence had fallen between them, “I’m still really thankful you caught me. I honestly couldn’t afford to have sprained or broken anything right now.”

“I’m glad I caught you too.” Joel replied, “Not just because it was a good deed, but… uh… because I got to meet you. I’ve been pretty cautious about talking to people. Mostly because I can’t communicate clear enough to hold real conversations.”

Ray blinked and sat up on the bed, propping himself on his elbows. “Really? You’ve been talking to me pretty clearly so far.”

“Yeah. I guess I have. Maybe you’re special.”

“Aw. You’re going to give me a big head. If you keep almost saying gushy stuff like you are.”

“Well, I mean it though.” Joel insisted, “I mean, normally I wouldn’t have just run to catch someone. I mean, like I’m sure my bones would scream at me to catch you, but I probably wouldn’t actually move a muscle. But like, I saw you falling, and I didn’t even think, I just reacted. Probably because I’ve fallen down stairs so many times myself and I didn’t want someone else to hurt like that.”

“Stairs fucking hurt.” Ray stated.

Joel agreed, “Yeah, they fucking do. I’ve broken right hand, and left elbow falling down them.”

Ray laughed, “That it? Man, I snapped my ankle falling _up_ the stairs!” Ray remembered how that went down. He also shuddered when a phantom pain spread through said ankle. By that time he was already a pro with crutches, so his life wasn’t impacted too much.

“Let’s not make this a competition, okay?” Joel’s words were heavy with something Ray was all too familiar with. It was that small voice that always wanted to shut up laughing friends that never saw how big of deal getting hurt so often was. That voice that made everything not a joke. Broken bones aren’t funny. They aren’t bragging rights.

“Okay.” Ray said, focusing his attention on the consoles and the various games in the shelf next to them.  Joel gave him the go-ahead and he dove right in on the Xbox360. This was his truest element he had. The controller was the only safe haven for his hands. Well, there was that one time he threw his controller in anger, and it shattered against the wall, sending plastic shards that sliced into his face. Other than that one time, he loved games because of how safe they were.

And it was that safety, and his ability to lose himself in that world that he didn’t realize that after a few hours he had fallen asleep. His eyes fluttered open to complete darkness. He was on top of Joel’s bed, the sheets probably smelled like he did. They smelled nice. With that thought Ray sat up and shook his head, trying to wake himself fully. One glance at the microwave in the corner told Ray that it was Three AM.

_Good job Ray_ , He thought to himself, _It’s not exactly normal to just sleep at another person’s place on the first day they met, now is it?_

Christ though, why didn’t Joel just wake him up and send him home? Was he just that nice of guy or what? For a moment, Ray contemplated slipping out and heading to his own dorm… which happened to be on the other side of campus. Fuck that. He’ll just apologize in the morning. Ray flopped back down and fell asleep rather easily.

Joel’s eyes fluttered open with the sun on his face. The first thing he noticed is that he was a lot higher off the ground than normal. Oh, and his neck ached like a sunofva. That’s when he remembered that he was on his top bunk, didn’t have any pillows, and there was a cute dude sleeping in his own bed. Well, he had to get down, so he slid off the bed, stomach down and feet first. For a moment, he couldn’t find the rung to step on, but his toes curled around the black metal bar. As soon as he shifted his entire weight on his feet, they slipped, and he fell. His head banged against the dresser and he groaned in pain.

Ray shook awake, sitting straight up and hitting his forehead against one of the legs of the top bed that hung low. Just as fast as he sat up, he was sent back down. They were both rolling around, hands on their heads, trying to alleviate their pain. Groans echoed between them, littered with curses.  When the pain subsided, they muttered good mornings to each other.

“Hey, Joel. Sorry for just… falling asleep here. I know that’s weird. You could’ve just woken me up you know?”

“Well, to be fair, I did try a little bit to wake you up. I said your name, like five times. Then I decided it wasn’t worth the effort, so I just tossed you in my bed and slept in my other one. It wasn’t a big deal.”

Ray flailed a little, “Yeah, but you fell off your loft because—“

“Because I’m a klutz, the same reason you hit your head on the post.” Joel interrupted sternly. “Don’t worry about it, okay? Let’s go get breakfast somewhere, okay?”

“Y-Yeah. Okay.”

Strangely enough, after the accidental sleepover, it became a reoccurring thing. Except Ray stashed one of his pillows and a few blankets on the top bunk instead of just taking over Joel’s bed. Joel was fine with it, he really liked the constant company. “Keeps me out of trouble.” Joel said, even though Ray wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by that.

One Saturday afternoon, they were in the Hall kitchen, making some food. Ray was working on some pasta, and Joel was cutting up some chicken to sauté. Joel’s hand were moving skillfully, practiced and in control. Ray had an aversion to knives after getting himself so many times, so he gave Joel props for conquering a fear.

“Aw shit!” Joel yelled out suddenly as metal clanged against the countertop. Ray’s head snapped to Joel. The other man was clutching his hand, red leaking between his fingers. Joel’s face cringed in pain but also held a fear. A shame deep inside Joel reared its ugly head, and Ray saw it bubbling in his throat. An apology was ready to leap out of throat, but Ray cut it off.

“Don’t. Don’t you even dare.” Ray snapped. “Don’t you dare apologize for something you didn’t mean to do. We’ve spent our whole lives apologizing for getting hurt, for making people worried, but you don’t have to. Not now. Because I know. I get it. So don’t you even dare apologize to me. Now sit your ass down, and I’ll take care of those cuts.”

Although they both smiled, and reassured each other that everything was okay, the smile wasn’t real. There was no laughing as Ray tenderly wrapped a bandage over the gash in Joel’s finger. It’s at that point that Ray realized how much he wanted to tell Joel to be more careful, but he also realized how he can’t say those words. He can’t say anything, because he knows… he knows that probably fifteen minutes from now, he’d be in the same situation. It’d be Joel taking care of whatever wound Ray afflicted upon himself accidentally. He wished that it weren’t the case. He wished that they weren’t so unlucky, but at least they both have experience to take care of each other when things happen.

As Ray continued cleaning the cut, Joel got a good look at Ray. The way his mouth was slightly hung open as he concentrated. His long black pretty eyelashes and the adorable curl to his hair. But those eyes though. They were overflowing with care and Joel felt drawn in.

“Ray? Look at me.” Joel urged.

Ray’s large brown eyes looked straight into Joel as his hands continued their work.  “Yeah?”

Joel leaned forward and kissed Ray’s lips tenderly. Ray’s body went rigid at first, but he quickly melted into Joel’s lips. He kissed back gently, playfully, and Joel’s body tingled. They pulled apart and they both giggled like girls.

“Sorry.” Joel apologized, “I couldn’t help myself.”

Ray shook his head and made sure Joel’s bandages were set tight. “Now, that’s something you can apologize for.  That was something you had complete control over, but I’m so glad you didn’t.”

Joel lifted up his fingers and wiggled them, “Kiss my booboos and make them better?”

“Certainly.”

They were not invincible. Even with each other they weren’t safe, but they accepted this. They accepted their fate. Being with each other, however, eased that pain. The gentle touches soothed hurting cuts and scrapes. They catch each other before they fall down the stairs. They are the support they’ve always looked for, the one person that didn’t find their pain funny. They are each other’s healing process, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.


End file.
